It Came — Finally

**WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS INFORMATION PERTAINING TO A MENSTRUAL CYCLE.**

It's no surprise. Since puberty, women have been greeted monthly by their Aunt Flow. For me? Not so much. One of the tall tell signs of having PCOS is irregular periods. I would go anywhere from two to four months without getting my period. Back in my high school days, and even college, I saw it as a blessing. I used to hate getting my period. It was annoying, time consuming, I was always grumpy and irritable, and I had to deal with remembering how many hours ago it was that I put in my last tampon. The last thing I needed was to be diagnosed with a fatal Toxic Shock Syndrome. Highly unlikely, I know. But still...

Well now that Brit and I are trying to start making a baby, I have been praying for my monthly visits from Aunt Flow. See, about three years ago I was put on birth control, as it's one of the main methods to treating PCOS. I was only taking active pills. In other words, when it came time to my week of placebos, I'd skip them and go straight to my next month's active pills. This is actually a great way of reducing the risk of getting breast/ovarian cancer. Then, about six months, I began taking those placebos. My doctors wanted me to start having a period again to ensure a healthy uterine lining was being released. It took until my third cycle on placebos for my period to arrive. I screamed! Brit was obviously concerned. She came running into the bathroom to make sure I was okay. I was. Beyond okay, actually. I looked at her gleefully and said, "It came! It's here! I got my period!" She just shook her head, laughed, and congratulated me. Something I dreaded getting when I was younger, I was now over the moon about coming. Of course, I am happy about getting my period, only to wish it not come back for about 10 months.

I have now been off birth control all together for a month. Well, 32 days to be exact. When I was taking my birth control, I was getting my period like clock work. But now, not so much. Until today. It came...late...but it came! And so now the countdown is on for ovulation. I am keeping track with two different apps, Ovia and Flow. They are both giving me a similar time frame but are off by about a day or so. In order to time this as pefectly as we can, I'll start peeing on those OPK sticks in about a week.

The kicker? Brit and I are leaving for Vegas on July 31st, returning on August 2nd for a merchandising convention. When am I supposed to be at my peak ovulation? Sometime between August 1st and August 3rd. And so the journey continues...